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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS, 

Agricultural   Experiment  Station 


CHAMPAIGN,  JUNE  9,  1894. 


BULLETIN  NO.  33. 


CONTENTS. — THE  CHINCH  BUG  IN  ILLINOIS,  1894.. 

ALKALINE     TABLETS    FOR      TESTING     THE 

ACIDITY  OF  CREAM. 
CERTIFIED  TESTS  OF   DAIRY  COWS. 


THE  CHINCH  BUG  IN  SOUTHERN  ILLINOIS— 1894. 

In  bulletin  No.  19  of  this  Experiment  Station,  published  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1892,  notice  was  given  of  the  commencement  of  an  extensive 
outbreak  of  the  chinch  bug  in  southern  Illinois,  with  warning  of  its 
probable  development  in  the  following  year.  Acccording  to  our  ad- 
vices at  that  time,  eight  counties  in  the  southern  and  south-central  part 
of  the  state  were  injuriously  infested,  and  eighteen  other  counties  in  the 
same  region  were  mentioned  in  which  the  chinch  bug  was  reported  as 
of  general  occurrence  in  unusual  numbers. 

This  attack  increased  in  intensity  during  1893,  and  this  spring  (1894) 
the  chinch  bugs  emerged  from  their  winter  quarters  in  numbers  sufficient 
to  do  great  mischief  in  no  less  than  twenty-four  counties  throughout  the 
region  above  mentioned.  The  area  seriously  infested  is  practically  the 
same  as  that  to  which  attention  was  called  in  1892,  the  counties  now  in- 
volved being  Williamson,  Jefferson,  Perry,  Washington,  Clinton,  Madi- 
son, Bond,  Marion,  Fayette,  Clay,  Richland,  Jasper,  Effingham,  Cum- 
berland, Montgomery,  Macoupin,  Scott,  Morgan,  Sangamon,  Christian, 
Pike,  Brown,  Cass,  and  Henderson. 

Economic  measures  now  available  are  practically  limited  to  experi- 
ments for  the  destruction  of  the  chinch  bugs  in  place  by  the  introduction 

397 


398  BULLETIN  NO.  33.  [  June, 

of  their  contagious  diseases,  and  to  the  interposition  of  barriers  between 
small  grain  and  corn  to  prevent  their  passage  from  one  to  the  other  as 
infested  fields  of  small  grain  ripen  or  are  destroyed.  To  accumulate 
and  kill  them  as  they  pass  from  field  to  field,  a  deep  furrow  may  be 
plowed, — to  be  kept  clean  and  as  friable  as  possible,  especially  on  the 
vertical  side,  next  the  field  to  be  protected, — and  in  this  the  accumulat- 
ing bugs  may  be  killed  by  a  mixture  of  kerosene  and  water  (about  one 
part  to  eight),  thoroughly  and  repeatedly  shaken  together.  A  variation 
of  this  method,  used  very  successfully  in  Wisconsin,  is  to  lay  a  quantity 
of  green  wheat  or  oats  or  fresh  corn  stalks  in  the  furrow,  in  which  the 
chinch  bugs  can  be  killed  with  this  kerosene  mixture  as  they  accumu- 
late. 

An  added  measure  of  success  with  the  barrier  method  may  be 
secured  if  two  parallel  furrows  are  made  instead  of  one,  and  the  soil 
between  them  be  kept  dusty.  The  chinch  bugs  escaping  the  kerosene 
mixture,  or  other  destructive  agent,  in  the  outer  furrow  could  then  be 
killed  in  the  second.  If  they  succeed  in  passing  these  barriers  and  col- 
lect upon  the  outer  rows  of  corn,  they  may  there  be  killed  with  kerosene, 
which  should  then  be  applied  in  the  form  of  an  emulsion  to  prevent  in- 
jury to  the  young  corn  itself.  To  prepare  this  fluid,  mix  two  parts  of 
kerosene  with  one  part  of  strong  hot  soap-suds,  and  violently  agitate 
the  mixture  with  a  hand  force-pump  until  a  permanent  cream  or  butter 
is  formed.  This  may  then  be  diluted  with  ten  or  twelve  parts  of 
water,  and  applied  either  with  a  sprinkler,  or  in  a  spray  from  a  hand 
force-pump. 

A  more  expensive  and  less  readily  manageable  method  is  the  plant- 
ing of  strips  of  some  favorite  food  plant,  as  spring  wheat,  or  other 
quick  growing  succulent  cereal  or  grass,  around  infested  wheat  or 
around  corn  to  be  protected,  where  the  chinch  bugs  may  accumulate  and 
be  destroyed  before  laying  their  eggs  for  the  second  generation  of  the 
year.  The  bugs  may  be  confined  to  the  strip,  after  having  entered  it, 
by  furrows  plowed  all  around  it  and  attended  to  from  day  to  day  until 
the  destruction  is  complete. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  wish  to  experiment  with  the  intro- 
duction of  contagious  diseases,  arrangements  have  been  made  to  infect 
and  distribute  live  chinch  bugs  to  farmers,  the  funds  for  this  experiment 
having  been  furnished  by  the  Board  of  Direction  of  the  State  Agricul- 
tural Experiment  Station.  Those  wishing  such  material  should  send  to 
the  undersigned,  with  the  least  possible  delay,  a  collection  of  some 
thousands  of  live  insects,  enclosed  with  a  little  green  vegetation  (wheat, 
oats,  or  corn)  and  no  dirt,  in  a  tin  box  large  enough  to  hold  from  a 
pint  to  a  quart.  Upon  receipt  of  these  they  will  be  exposed  to  infec- 
tion by  confining  them  in  a  tight  box  with  a  large  quantity  of  dead  and 
dying  chinch  bugs,  and  returned  without  charge  to  the  senders,  with  full 
directions  for  use. 

The  results  of  this  method  are,  however,  not  sufficiently  certain  to 


• 


1894-]  ALKALINE  TABLETS  FOR  TKSTINCJ  TIIK  ACIDITY  OK  CRKAM.       399 

warrant  an  entire  dependence  upon  it;  and  it  should  be  made  one  feature 
only  of  a  general  and  concerted  campaign.  I  cannot  too  strongly  insist 
upon  the  fact,  emphasized  by  eleven  years'  experience  with  the  chinch 
bug,  that  it  is  not  to  be  mastered  by  any  one  measure  or  any  one  man, 
but  that  joint  action  on  an  intelligent  programme  of  preventive  and 
protective  measures  persistently  followed  up,  offers  the  only  valid  hope 
of  success. 

S.  A.  FORBES,  PH.  D.,  State  Entomologist. 


ALKALINE  TABLETS  FOR  TESTING  THE  ACIDITY 
OF  CREAM. 

Since  the  first  description  of  these  tablets  was  published  in  bulletin 
No.  32,  Professor  Morrow,  of  this  station,  has  made  a  valuable  sugges- 
tion which  has  been  adopted  in  the  use  of  the  tablets  for  testing  the  sour- 
ness of  the  cream.  He  suggested  that  substitution  of  one  graduated 
bottle  for  the  three  or  four  separate  bottles  in  which  the  tablets  are  dis- 
solved in  water.  This  is  found  to  be  an  improvement,  as  it  not  only 
decreases  the  necessary  manipulations,  but  enables  the  operator  to  meas- 
ure a  smaller  amount  of  acidity  in  cream  than  is  represented  by  one 
tablet.  A  50  c.  c.  glass  cylinder,  graduated,  and  on  a  foot,  is  found 
to  be  a  convenient  piece  of  apparatus  to  use  in  preparing  the  solution 
of  the  tablets.  It  is  made  of  stout  glass,  not  easily  broken,  and  can 
be  obtained  of  any  dealer  in  chemical  apparatus.  Put  five  tablets 
into  this  cylinder,  add  hot  or  cold  soft  water,  until  the  cylinder  is  filled 
up  to  the  50  mark,  then  cork  the  cylinder  and  shake  frequently  until 
the  tablets  all  disappear  in  solution.  When  the  tablets  are  all  dissolved, 
the  reddish  colored  liquid  can  be  poured  into  the  25  c.  c.  of  cream  which 
is  to  be  tested,  until  the  cream  is  no  longer  white,  but  retains  a  pinkish 
color.  This  is  the  end  of  the  test.  The  amount  of  the  tablet  solution 
which  was  used  to  produce  this  color  in  the  cream,  is  thus  measured  by 
noting  the  number  of  tablets  which  were  dissolved  in  the  50  c.  c.  of 
water  and  the  number  of  c.  c.  of  this  solution  it  was  necessary  to  use  to 
neutralize  the  acid  of  the  cream. 

COMPOSITION  OF  THE  TABLETS. 

The  tablets  are  made  of  sodium  carbonate  and  phenolphthalein. 
The  writer  proposed  the  idea  of  mixing  these  two  substances  in  the 
form  of  a  tablet  to  a  manufacturing  chemist  and  requested  him  to  make 
a  trial  of  it.  It  was  found  by  repeated  trials  and  experiments  of  the 
manufacturer  and  the  writer,  that  tablets  could  be  made  so  that  each  one 
would  contain  a  very  exact  amount  of  sodium  carbonate,  and  there  could 


VV  VSUl 


400  BULLETIN  NO.  33.  [  June,  1894. 

be  mixed  with  it  a  sufficient  quantity  of  phenolphthalein  to  give  a  pink 
color  to  25  c.  c.  of  milk  or  cream,  when  the  latter  was  made  alkaline  by 
the  sodium  carbonate. 

The  mixing  of  these  substances  and  molding  into  tablets,  requires 
the  skill  and  machinery  of  a  manufacturing  chemist. 

Their  usefulness  depends  in  a  large  measure  on  the  exactness  with 
which  they  are  made.  E.  H.  FARRINGTON,  M.  S.,  Chemist. 


CERTIFIED  TESTS  OF  DAIRY  COWS. 

The  Illinois  Agricultural  Experiment  Station  will  supervise  tests 
of  dairy  herds  and,  in  exceptional  cases,  of  individual  cows  owned  or 
exhibited  in  Illinois  under  the  following  conditions: 

The  number  of  tests  so-  supervised,  and  the  times  at  which  they 
shall  be  made,  will  be  determined  by  the  practicability  of  sending  an 
authorized  representative  for  the  purpose  without  serious  interference 
with  other  work  of  the  station,  but  it  is  expected  that  there  can  be 
prompt  compliance  with  all  requests. 

Preference  will  be  given  to  tests  of  pure  bred  herds  or  cows  kept 
for  the  ^rearing  of  dairy  stock,  and  to  tests  continuing  seven  days. 

The  Station,  through  its  representative,  shall  receive  full  informa- 
tion as  to  breeding,  age,  time  of  calving,  date  when  bred,  and  treatment 
of  the  cows  prior  to  the  tests;  also  have  full  opportunity  to  determine  the 
quantity  and  kinds  of  food  used,  and  the  methods  of  feeding  and  treat- 
ment during  the  tests,  with  privilege  of  taking  samples  of  the  food  for 
inspection  or  analysis,  as  well  as  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  milk  or 
butter  product. 

The  results  of  the  tests,  duly  certified  by  the  Station,  will  be  furnished 
as  soon  as  determined  to  the  owners  of  the  cows,  or  to  the  associations 
under  whose  auspices  the  tests  are  made.  The  Station  shall  have  the 
right  to  make  publication  of  the  results  obtained,  but  no  publication  will 
be  made  without  consent  of  owners  or  associations  until  after  the  com- 
pletion of  any  public  competition  in  which  the  cows  have  been  entered. 

The  expenses  of  the  representative  of  the  Station  in  going  to  and 
returning  from  the  tests  as  well  as  his  maintenance  during  the  tests  shall 
be  paid  by  the  owners  of  the  cows  or  the  associations  authorizing  the 
tests. 

Blanks  giving  the  details  of  observations  to  be  made  in  the  tests  will 
be  sent  on  application  to  AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENTAL  STATION, 
Champaign,  111.  G.  E.  MORROW,  A.  M., 

President  Board  of  Direction. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


